Journaling for Mental Health
Writing down your thoughts and feelings can benefit your mood and mental health. Journaling can help you gain understanding and clarity about your experience and provide a space for you to express yourself.
Benefits of Journaling for Mental Health
Reduced stress: Writing out your thoughts and feelings provides an opportunity to process them, which can lower stress
Improved emotional regulation (ability to manage and respond to emotions in helpful ways): Journaling can help you gain a better understanding of your emotions and ways to cope with them. Also, over time, it may lessen the intensity of your emotions as you practice experiencing them as you journal
Increased self-awareness: By taking some time to write out your experiences, you can increase your awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Also, journaling about a specific topic increases awareness of that topic. For example, if you want to reflect on your priorities and values, it may be helpful to list out your values, how you define them, and how you can put them into practice
Improved problem-solving skills: Writing out your problems and possible solutions can help you consider alternative problem-solving skills you haven’t considered before and enhance your overall ability to address concerns
Cognitive reassessment: Writing down thoughts, including inaccurate or unhelpful thoughts, allows you to reframe your thoughts in a more neutral and helpful way
Increased gratitude: Specifically thinking about and writing down what you are grateful for can help you broaden your perspective and boost your mood
Journaling can also help you organize your thoughts and prioritize your concerns, track how you are feeling over time, and provide an opportunity to write down and strengthen helpful and balanced thoughts. If you are uncertain how you are feeling or of stress triggers, writing out your experiences may highlight triggers or patterns you are unaware of. Also, if you are experiencing a concern that you do not feel comfortable sharing with other people, journaling is a private way to process what is happening. This Calm article provides an overview of journaling.
How To Journal
There is not one correct way to journal. Some people may find it most helpful to approach journaling in an open-ended way, where they simply write down their thoughts and feelings in the moment. Others may want to use a certain framework, such as journaling three things they are grateful for each day. It might be useful to try out a couple of different types of journaling and see what feels most helpful for you.
In general, it is useful to create a journaling routine, as most skills or strategies become more effective with consistent practice. Set a time each day when you journal for 5 to 10 minutes. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. You are not writing an academic paper. Practice writing freely. Be honest with yourself. You don’t need to share your journal with anyone. This is your space to honestly express yourself and not censor yourself. Don’t worry about how you may sound, and do your best not to criticize your experience. Aim to be curious about your experience and nonjudgmental with yourself. Finally, it may be helpful to periodically read your journal to increase overall awareness of your experience over time.
To learn more about journaling and other helpful mental health coping skills, please contact us at CBT Denver.